Housing Choice Voucher Program (Section 8)

Evidence Rating

Some Evidence

Health Factors

Decision Makers

The Housing Choice Voucher Program (HCV), also known as Section 8, provides eligible low and very low income families with vouchers to help cover the costs of rental housing. Residents pay 30-40% of their income toward rent and a local public housing agency contracts with the landlord to pay the remainder, up to a specified maximum amount. Eligible households can use vouchers to move to dwellings and neighborhoods of their choice, as in the Moving to Opportunity demonstration project, or to pay rent in their current location; households must recertify income annually and can receive vouchers as long as income eligibility is demonstrated. The US Department of Housing and Urban development (HUD) provides Section 8 funds to state or municipal housing agencies which administer local programs. There are often extensive waiting lists for vouchers (US HUD-Vouchers).

Housing vouchers for low income families may decrease costs to emergency shelters, the child welfare system, and the health care system, and reduce use of institutional care facilities for elderly individuals or those with disabilities (CBPP-Fischer 2015).

Impact on Disparities

Likely to decrease disparities

Implementation Examples

The US Department of Housing and Urban Development (US HUD) provides Section 8 funds to each state; state or municipal housing agencies administer local programs and allocate funds (US HUD-Vouchers). The Baltimore Mobility Program’s (BMP’s) implementation of Section 8 includes a higher payment standard, an intensive counseling process, security deposit assistance, and requires participants to relocate to low poverty, mixed race neighborhoods for at least a year (Darrah J, DeLuca S. 'Living here has changed my whole perspective': How escaping inner-city poverty shapes neighborhood and housing choice. Journal of Policy Analysis and Management. 2014;33(2):350-384.Link to original source (journal subscription may be required for access)Darrah 2014).

Park 2013* - Park M. Housing vouchers as a means of poverty deconcentration and race desegregation: Patterns and factors of voucher recipients' spatial concentration in Cleveland. Journal of Housing and the Built Environment. 2013;28(3):451-468.

NBER-Chetty 2015 - Chetty R, Hendren N, Katz LF. The effects of exposure to better neighborhoods on children: New evidence from the Moving to Opportunity experiment. The National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER). 2015: Working Paper No. 21156.

Date Last Updated

Scientifically Supported: Strategies with this rating are most likely to make a difference. These strategies have been tested in many robust studies with consistently positive results.

Some Evidence: Strategies with this rating are likely to work, but further research is needed to confirm effects. These strategies have been tested more than once and results trend positive overall.

Expert Opinion: Strategies with this rating are recommended by credible, impartial experts but have limited research documenting effects; further research, often with stronger designs, is needed to confirm effects.

Insufficient Evidence: Strategies with this rating have limited research documenting effects. These strategies need further research, often with stronger designs, to confirm effects.

Mixed Evidence: Strategies with this rating have been tested more than once and results are inconsistent or trend negative; further research is needed to confirm effects.

Evidence of Ineffectiveness: Strategies with this rating are not good investments. These strategies have been tested in many robust studies with consistently negative and sometimes harmful results.